he use of Nevada corporate entities as an asset protection vehicle has gained ground in the last several years. The selling point of this strategy has been twofold: (1) by using a Nevada entity you somehow import Nevada’s allegedly protective laws into the jurisdiction you are doing business or holding an asset in; and (2) [...]
Douglas Lineberry
What is estate planning, and what documents and agreements should an estate plan include? Estate planning is the process of planning for likely or inevitable events in our lives and presently determining how we should address those events. A proper estate plan considers not only obvious events like death, but should also encompass issues such [...]
As if intending to rub salt into what could turn into a significant tax wound for many people, the Washington legislature is proposing to increase estate tax rates. House Bill 3184 would increase Washington State estate tax rates from the current range of 10% – 19% to 20% to 38%. This is particularly troubling in [...]
So your home or condo has lost a lot of value? Maybe it’s lost so much value that you just don’t see the point any more and you are considering walking away and turning it over to the bank. Beware that in so doing you may get to keep paying a debt for a home [...]
In the previous post I discussed statutory protections that apply to IRAs. One obvious point is that an account is only protected as long is it actually is an IRA. This post discusses what can happen when the IRA owner engages in certain conduct known as “prohibited transactions.” What is a prohibited transaction? It’s a tax rule. It’s all [...]
Debtors have the right to claim certain property as exempt and therefore not available to be used in satisfaction of debts in the bankruptcy proceeding. Debtors generally have the choice of exemptions set forth in federal statutes (section 522 of the bankruptcy code) or under state law. For example, you can review the list of [...]
This is an introduction to a multi-part post on asset protection for individual retirement accounts (or “IRAs”). Many people believe that their IRA is an extremely secure asset, held inviolate against claims of creditors and fully protected by bankruptcy laws. As we will discuss, there is a certain level of asset protection for IRAs in [...]
Congress failed to amend the federal estate tax by the end of 2009. This means that estate tax planning in 2010 and beyond will become extraordinarily difficult as we plan first for no federal estate tax, then for a 2011 estate tax that will have 2001 estate tax exemption levels and estate tax rates.
We’ve had this blog up for a few years but have to admit it has gotten a bit stale. That’s unfortunate, but we’re going to try to be more proactive in the future with new posts, commentary, links to other sites and articles of interest and discussion with our visitors. We’re in the process of [...]
The IRS announces concerns with using retirement assets in a rollover to provide business start-up capital. The strategy may be a prohibited transaction that will disqualify your retirement plan.